


Dangerous Ingredients

by kat8cha



Series: Variations on a Theme [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/M, M/M, Other, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-17
Updated: 2012-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-29 17:31:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/322372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kat8cha/pseuds/kat8cha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What's a witch to do with two wizards vying for her affections? Share, of course.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Robe smudged with potion ingredients Natasha checked on the bubbling brew one last time before she settled down in front of the fireplace. It had turned a vibrant shade of kelly green and needed to be kept over the fire for long enough that the green had darkened into a shade closer to hunter green. Clint shifted from his spot stretched in front of the fire; he was dressed in purple, like always. In his first year an upperclassmen had insulted his hand-me-down robe, claiming that the faded black was almost purple. It had prompted Clint to wear purple at every opportunity he had.

What good did it do? Natasha couldn’t say. Clint was confrontational like that.

The door to their sanctuary opened with a whisper of noise to admit Phil Coulson. She smiled at the slightly older student, he’d be graduating this year and he was studying fiercely for exams. It left him little time to join them in the spare room they had appropriated years ago for their own use. The Salem Institute was large, so large that it accommodated wizards and witches from all over the US as well as exchange students like Natasha, and as such it had rooms that were unused by both students and teachers.

“How’s the potion going?” Coulson moved to check up on the boiling cauldron but was stopped by Natasha’s hand on his hip.

“I’d prefer to do this on my own without your assistance, Phil.” She smiled at him before she motioned to his unoccupied chair. They had all provided a piece of furniture, shrunken magically and regrown once it was inside of the room. Phil had brought in an arm chair that he had found in a closet full of unused furniture, Natasha had provided a love seat ‘misplaced’ from the student council’s break room, Clint had stolen a couch from the office of one of the teachers that he hated. He had been blamed although he had not been caught. Not that it meant Clint had avoided detention, he was constantly in detention. “Have a seat.”

Phil glanced at Clint, who twitched slightly in his sleep, before he took the seat on the loveseat next to Natasha. “Natasha, have you thought of what I-”

She pressed a finger to his lips. “My potions done.” She stood to check on it, all too aware of the way Phil slumped into the arm of the love seat. At her feet Clint cracked an eye open.

“C’mon Coulson, two years till she graduates isn’t too much to ask. Afraid that an extra year’ll give me an advantage?” It was the look that did it, two parts insolence and one part something wholly Clint. Natasha smiled down into her dark potion and was careful not to splash it when she set it down by the windows, it wouldn’t do to leave tell-tale splotches even if no one seemed to care that they made free with the room.

“Your attention span being what it is I doubt you can focus on one person for two years.” Coulson crossed his legs at the ankle and sat up. “I’d hate for you to forfeit.”

Natasha covered the potion up. She would need to wait for it to cool before she transferred it into the waiting vials. In two years perhaps she could get Phil and Clint to realize that they weren’t only competing against each other for her affections, they were flirting as well.

“Say that again, Coleslaw.” Clint already had his wand out, and Natasha was actually starting to wonder if Clint was overcompensating for something.

“Clint, if you fire off a spell I swear I’ll hex your fingers off and leave Phil to take you to the nurse.” Natasha pushed Clint back down and sat heavily on his back. “No fighting today.”

Clint grumbled and Phil gave the two of them a look so fond that Natasha wondered if maybe Phil hadn’t figured it all out already.


	2. Mentors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time muggle born wizard Phil Coulson saw Clint Barton wasn't the start of a beautiful friendship but it was going to start something that neither of them could have expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was told (or asked depending on which end has the carrot and which the stick) to write more of this AU and well... there's more of it in my head.

The first time Coulson saw Clint Barton the younger man was standing apart from the rest of the eleven year olds gathered on the dais at the front of the assembly hall. It was the first day of the year for most of the students but the first years had been in attendance for a week already as part of their introduction and orientation. They would have been tested for magical strengths and weaknesses and their class schedules would have been decided for them and handed out. ‘Honors’ students would already have been moved into a separate dorm, Coulson was sure that the rooms he had shared with three other young men last year were already in a state of disarray. All that was left was introducing the students to the rest of the school and then the first feast of the year.

One thing Coulson had learned since his introduction to wizarding society, wizards _loved_ parties.

Nick Fury had just introduced the newest class with a wave of his hand and then had waved them off to the empty rows of seats in the back of the room. Coulson didn’t know Clint’s name yet but he couldn’t take his eyes off the blond who hung slightly back from the crowd, not until the blond boy passed him by to take the last seat available in the row.

That was the first of his interaction with Clint but it was hardly the last. If that had been it Coulson would have put the blond out of his mind, the boy was obviously anti-social and at that point Coulson already knew better than to attempt to befriend someone just for the sake of friendship. He had classes to study for, anyone who couldn’t help him pass his tests wasn’t someone he needed hanging around.

Fury called him into his office the second day of term, a serious expression on his face. Coulson wasn’t worried, he was a ‘teacher’s pet’ and ‘Fury’s golden boy’ or so the taunting bullies told him right before Coulson cleverly deflected one of their hexes right back at them. He had been faintly surprised when he entered the room to find Clint Barton (then, nameless anti-social blond eleven year old) slumped in a seat by the door. It was clear from the bruises on his face and the slight discoloration around his fingers that he was healing from a rather nasty physical and magical fight. The school nurse must have whipped him up a cure only a couple of hours ago, if that.

“Sir?” Coulson didn’t sit down in front of the principal’s desk; instead he stood in front of it with his hands behind his back just like his father had taught him.

“Phil.” Fury’s tone was slightly teasing, he nodded towards the chair to Coulson’s right and the too serious twelve year old hopped up into it (his feet dangled possibly an inch from the floor). “I was wondering if you would be interested in mentoring.”

From the door, Barton snorted.

“…sir?” Coulson wasn’t sure he was hearing this right. Mentors were generally fifth years ,what muggles would call high school sophomores, but sometimes fourth year honor students would be called to mentor if they had a close affinity with the first years. The mentoring system was in place for muggle-borns or half-bloods that were new to the wizarding world as well as pure blooded wizards who struggled adjusting to the classroom setting. Asking a second year muggle-born to mentor was… unheard of.

“You heard me, Phil.” Nick Fury’s smile only reached one eye because he only had one eye, the other was covered by a black eye patch that could not hide the scarring that stretched over half of his face. Everyone knew that he had earned the wound in a battle with a dark wizard although no one knew which dark wizard it had been. “I’d like you to mentor Clint over there, he’s having some trouble fitting in.”

Coulson’s apprehension must have shown on his face because Nick Fury’s smile widened. Coulson could never be sure if that was supposed to be reassuring or if the principal liked it when his students were afraid of him. “Don’t looks so worried, Phil. Clint, why don’t you head off to your next class, I’m sure you’ll have fun in Herbology.”

When Coulson turned to look Clint appeared mutinous, it was doubtful the younger man would actually show up in class, but he trundled out the door with his threadbare sack full of books riding low over one shoulder. That was when Coulson turned back to the principal and raised one eyebrow in question.

Again, just like his dad had taught him.

Nick Fury sighed and steepled his finger, smile gone. “Clint’s older brother is Barney Barton and I’m sure you know what the older students think about him.”

Coulson winced. Barney Barton was the resident rule breaker and not in a fun way, he also started fights and, being a fourth year, had managed to get on the wrong side of anyone from fourth year and above who might end up in the mentoring program. Barney was what most of the teachers referred to as ‘a bad egg’.

“That still doesn’t explain why you want me to mentor him, sir.” Coulson always felt like he was out of his depth at the Salem Institute.

“You already know that I consider you an extremely talented young wizard, Phil, and I believe that Clint could be just as talented if he is guided in the right way. However he’s had a hard home life and he isn’t going to take instruction well, someone closer to his age group might…”

Coulson screwed up his face; he wasn’t having any of that.

“…just give it a try, will you? In a week, if you don’t think you’re up to mentoring Clint I’ll put someone else on it.” Fury’s smile was all teeth and his eye glittered like he knew something Coulson didn’t.

All things being equal, he probably did.


End file.
